It's A Joke Son!

When I first posted this story to one of my listservs, I immediately got a reply that it was a joke. The problem is that he was believable because there are so many people who aren't kidding.

Clearly doing little to raise America’s profile abroad, Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder said that, until his team was booked to play against the New York Giants at London’s Wembley Stadium, he didn’t know that people in England spoke English.

[...]

“I swear to God. I don’t know what nothing is. I know Italy looks like a boot. I learned that.”

Crowder added: “I know (Washington Redskins linebacker) London Fletcher. We did a football camp together. So I know him.

“That’s the closest thing I know to London. He’s black, so I’m sure he’s not from London. I’m sure that’s a coincidental name.”

The Miami Dolphins play the New York Giants at Wembley this Sunday in the first NFL regular-season game to be played outside the United States.

I had a colleague in England and during her college years she spent a semester in the states (some southern school but I forget where). She could not get over how many people asked her what language they spoke in England. She came with another student from England who happened to be black and, no surprise, people were surprised that they had black people in England too! I also recall an instructor from England getting nasty evaluations from students with people telling him to "learn English!" So, Channing Crowder may well have been playing the fool but there are more people than you ever want to imagine who don't a thing about England and definitely don't know that Italy looks like a boot.

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